Martial arts…and play

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Josh

For those who don’t know, I’ve been practicing Baguazhang now for the past few years. At first, I was lucky enough to study under George Wood, back in VA. When I moved out here to SF, it’s become difficult to get to the group that practices my style (Gao Style) out in the East Bay, so I’ve mostly been on my own.

One of the greatest realizations I’ve had recently about my practice came from my involvement with Exuberant Animal, and it was this – I was being way to “serious.”

Martial arts are pretty serious stuff. Most of the time you’re learning how to fight someone, and that usually means doing pretty significant damage to that person (or risking having that damage done to you!). Also, most teaching is done in a very strict, regimental fashion. While my teacher was a more “enlightened” teacher in this way, he is also very strict. Not only because he learned in Taiwan, and studied very very diligently for many years to hone his practice in a more “traditional” setting, but also because there is a need for structure and form in the art (or any art), which cannot be attained lightly.

However, this isn’t very different from play, or the attitude of someone who is truly “playful.”

Watch children on the playground. Some are involved in frivolous, meaningless behavior. But most of them will cycle in and out of frivolity to grave seriousness when confronted with a new, difficult or challenging task or game, or when the “stakes” of the game become heightened. When we play at the foot-camps, we’re very lighthearted and loose for a while, and then suddenly things turn serious when a new challenge is posed. We have to do something on one leg, or with our eyes closed, and attention is brought down to a very fine point.

[Note - much of this post plays on ideas I've recently learned from James Carse's book "Finite and Infinite Games." He makes distinctions between "finite players" and "infinite players." Essentially, the difference is this - where finite players play within boundaries (and to do so, establish boundaries), infinite players play with boundaries. When I say "play," I'm referring to infinite play here.]

Play is not always frivolous (though it is sometimes). Usually, “play” refers to an attitude of openness. It’s that openness that makes people who play more vulnerable than those who do not. It’s also that openness that makes people who play more sensitive – but also better able to deal with their vulnerability and sensitivity. They don’t take things so “seriously” (in a dramatic way), because there is no “prize,” or “goal,” or “title” in particular that is being played for. Instead, the game is being played to explore limits and boundaries, to find the possible, to be surprised, and thereby to become educated – to learn.

When I began to apply this approach to my martial arts practice, it suddenly became very “easy.” Not physically easy, but the mental/physical blocks I had to “fitting it in to my day” disappeared. Suddenly, practice wasn’t a chore to be “fit in” anymore, but a learning experience that I look forward to, and actually miss if I don’t get to do it!

What if you were to apply this attitude in different areas in your life? Let’s take, for instance, one of the most challenging areas for many people (definitely for me) – relationships. They can be work relationships (boss, or co-workers), romantic relationships, family relationships, or others.

The more “serious” the relationship is, the more difficult it can become to maintain a sense of sanity or self within that relationship. Things become “heavy” and very serious.

Now, if you were to approach your relationship playfully (not frivolously – at least, not always), you might not put so much stock in the immediate words being said, or the things being done. Instead, you’d look for creative ways to approach the relationship. You’d listen a lot more (as Carse also says), because your focus would be on the other person’s reaction to you, rather than what they are doing to you.

This approach can be used for anything, actually, should be used toward everything in your life. Instead of seeing things as finite goals, observe the process that is occurring when you do those things, and where you are in that process, how you affect and effect it – and then play (creatively explore) within it.

This mentality takes some getting used to. Strangely, it’s very hard to do at first! We have a definite bias against being “childlike” in our culture – which means that we disdain playfulness (it isn’t “adult” to play) – which you’ll come up against (maybe even as you read this post). However, I think it’s an enriching experience, and deserves a try.

Try it, and let me know what you think.

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What Can You Bench? Who Cares.

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Josh

The title of this post is a common question, heard in gyms throughout the world. You can even supplant “bench” with “squat,” “clean,” or “deadlift.” Any lift will do. What are your numbers?

After reading Zach Even Esh’s article about the prisoner he saw working out, I re-read Dan John’s AIT article. In it, he asks “what would you do if you were a political prisoner, and only given 15 minutes to work out every day?” He goes on to suggest perhaps the front squat.

The first thing that came to mind when I read that sentence, in light of Even Esh’s article, was not the front squat.

Don’t get me wrong. I have the utmost respect for Dan John. And I really like his message in that article. But Dan John always recommends Olympic Lifts (or their variants, or their supplements). It’s his thing.

If you were truly a political prisoner (or any type of prisoner), and you had no access to a set of weights, what would you do? Would you sit in your cell all day and vegetate? Would you go the route of Even Esh’s inmate and bust your ass every day, becoming so strong you could break through your handcuffs and straightjacket? Or would you do something else?

I once read a story about one of Xing Yi’s Quan’s (it’s a martial art) “founding fathers,” Gou Yun Shen. As the story goes, he was imprisoned for killing someone (I think while working as a bodyguard, but maybe not…it was a violent time in China). Anyway, Gou was regarded as highly dangerous, because of his martial arts skills. He was kept manacled all day. Yet, somehow, he came out of prison a more dangerous martial artist than he went in. He had practiced his art while manacled.

I guess I’m just a little dismayed by the attention weightlifting still gets, even now. Weights are a tool. They can achieve certain ends. But they are not the end-all of resistance training. Intention, desire, determination…those are all more important. Sure, O-lifts are important if you’re an athlete, or an O-lifter, but for the general populace, is it necessary for me to perfect my hang-snatch?

Even closer to the point – is it necessary for me to put up a big bench press number to be truly powerful, or to have a very high level of physical strength? What about movement ability? What type movement did I learn after all of that time practicing my bench press?

I think we all can, and should, use the 15-minute paradigm in our workouts on a regular basis. Do as much work as you can in that 15 minute period. Pick the most intense, most effective exercises you can and do them for 15 minutes. Then rest. Then do them again. What will you pick?

Oh yeah…what can you bench?

What cost – “youth”

Posted on December 9, 2008 by Josh

A friend forwarded this article to me. Unfortunately, nothing in it surprises me.

It chronicles a litany of methods being used to obtain “youthfulness” and “vigor” in the aging US population.

Three quotes that stand out for me are:

1. “My friends say, ‘Oh, Ed’s on steroids,’”…”I’m not. I’m on hormone therapy,” he says of a regimen that costs him more than $1,000 a month. [among the drugs he takes are human growth hormone, testosterone, and an adrenal hormone known as DHEA].

2. For a group known as the Calorie Restriction Society, youthfulness isn’t found in hormones. It’s reducing food intake to, in some cases, near-starvation levels.

3. This search for eternal youthfulness certainly isn’t new. “In 1,500 B.C. people were ingesting tiger gonads to rejuvenate them,” says Dr. Gene Cohen, a George Washington University expert on aging.

Before I go further, let’s talk about a few specifics…

What’s the difference, you might ask, between a steroid and a hormone? As far as I know, a steroid is a specific class of compound, with a specific chemical structure. Hormones are chemical messengers in the body, that typically serve as signals to communicate between cells. All of the human sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone (and cortisol)) happen to be steroidal in structure. So our friend above is only partly correct. He is taking steroids.

Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is not steroidal in structure, and has similar effects to steroids, but with low to no (currently known) negative effects if taken in proper doses.

I don’t want to be misleading. Taking the course of “hormone therapy” that’s reviewed here, while you’re under the close monitoring of a physician, may not be harmful at all. If the dosages are closely correlated to your age, body weight, and other physical signifiers, and a doctor is checking you out every few months, you’ll probably experience drastic changes in your body (to the tune of $1000/mo., at least).

Not only that, but hormone therapy has saved the lives of many people. Steroids and HGH can be similarly life-saving in people with HIV/AIDS to help prevent the muscle-wasting associated with that disease.

This post isn’t about the legality issues surrounding steroids (for a great film about that issue, go rent Bigger Faster Stronger). Nor is it about the moral or ethical issues surrounding steroid use in sports.

This post is about a question, which brings me to my final quotes from the article. The interviewees cite the same things as their reasons for taking these drugs. Namely: to “feel better, more energetic, clear-minded” from one, and to have ‘”lots of energy” and feel[sic] “sharp,” from another.

But what else is involved with these therapies? It’s funny, but you can take as much HGH, testosterone, or whatever, but if you don’t exercise, nothing very good will happen to you.

Movement rules above all else. And, in fact, movement can provide all of the benefits sought by the youth-seekers, though maybe not with the extreme muscle-growth.

There’s something you can do that’s a lot cheaper than $1000/mo., that will keep you feeling better, energetic, clear-minded, and sharp. In fact, it can be totally free.

It’s called exercise.

If you want to know where to start and you don’t know how, drop me a line. I’ll be happy to help. If you want something with some structure, and feel compelled to spend some money, go take some Tai Chi (or Taiji) classes.

Is it scientific proof you need? Master Lu Zijian is 93 in this video. He is practicing an art called Baguazhang, similar to Tai Chi.

Jack Lalanne pulled a string of 70 boats behind him with 70 people in them as he swam 1.5 miles. Roland Fortin wanted to fight Jack when he was 91, and Jack was 92!

The law is called inertia – a body at rest tends to stay at rest. Rest more, keep resting…

The fountain of youth is within you, dear hearts. It’s movement. Start moving. Move as much as you can and in as many ways as you can, till you get a little tired (but not a lot), every day, and a funny thing will happen – you’ll be full of energy – able to move more and more, for longer and longer, your mind will become clear and sharp, and life will be better.